By The Landlord
“Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle.” – Robert Anthony
“In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start.” – W. H. Auden
“Be a fountain, not a drain.” – Rex Hudler
“There is a fountain inside you. Don't walk around with an empty bucket.” – Rumi
“That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“I’ll toss my coins in the fountain,
Look for clovers in grassy lawns
Search for shooting stars in the night
Cross my fingers and dream on.” – Tracy Chapman
“A film is a petrified fountain of thought.” – Jean Cocteau
“The cistern contains:
The fountain overflows.” – William Blake
“Talent is a cistern,
Genius a fountain.” – Edwin Percy Whipple
“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” – Sophia Loren
“I’m a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl.” – Bjork
A liquid firework, a decorative gush, a civic expression of recycled wellspring engineering. A designed practical symbol of life-giving supply and eternity. They've been landmarks, large and small, in our villages, towns and cities for thousands of years, and following last week's chaotic, dramatic source of water shooting down from skies, accompanied by the crashing cymbals and drums of lightning and thunder, we move on to steadily controlled, a more rhythmic, hi-hat tinkle, gush and whoosh, of sculptured wetness spraying up from the ground into a contained pool or reservoir, in a continuous watery loop.
Where might inspiration pour forth? This week then, the fountain focus point of a song's story, sense of place, symbol or emotion, whether in literal or metaphorical terms. It's surprising how many spring up.
Fountains of course, are mostly about water, but there are other kinds – poured champagne cascades at luxuriant parties, or the sharp-elbowed excitement of those around the gloopy indulgence of a wobbly and extremely temporary chocolate fountain. And with clever modern programming, the fountain has also evolved into its own wet firework, a spurt-dance orchestra to accompany flourishes of sprightly sound.
As well as a sculptured, open-source tap, fountains have variously been perceived as symbols of life, of health, eternity, youthfulness, good luck, all in various form of the fons universalis. Fountains in modern times, are particularly fun for kids, evolved now in cities on flat squares with lights and random programmes to run through. Here, for example in London King's Cross – Granary Square – illuminated at night, and a summer free frolic in the daytime.
Children play in the fountains of Granary Square, King’s Cross in London in summertime …
… and another angle at night
But Freud might alternatively have a field day with the grander, more traditional fountains, of somewhere like Rome, or the spurting heights of Lake Geneva's Jet d'Eau which since 1951 has been shooting water 140 metres (460 ft) in the air. Just as he might regard the New York skyscrapper as a massive penis, the fountain could be seen as an architect's continuous wet dream.
Arguably the great Federico Fellini recognised this in that famous scene from La Dolce Vita, that indulgent, satirical, mosaic-like grand epic masterpiece of 1960, in which Marcello Mastroianni, playing a bemused journalist, finds himself running around the every whim of glamorous actress Anita Ekberg, she escaping the main party to explore Rome's streets, to find and caress a tiny, white lost kitten, he at her request scampering around looking for an open shop to get it some milk, she then wading into the famous Fontana di Trevi, leaving him and an entire generation of men, not unlike the effect of women picturing Mr D'Arcy’s wet shirt in Pride and Prejudice, gushing at the sight of her tossed back wet blonde hair and impressive, dripping balconies:
Anita Ekberg at Rome’s Fontana di Trevi in La Dolce Vita
In calmer moments, fountains might also represent a city's establishment, of wealth, status quo. But in times of celebration or extreme weather all of society might leap in in an expression of joyous chaos, not only tossing in coins for good luck, but themselves too. A nice example are these four celebrating the beginning of the end of the Second World War on VE Day, 8 May 1945 in the fountains of Trafalgar Square.
Hello sailor. Taking a fountainous dip for VE Day celebrations, 8 May 1945
But why the coin tossing? There are plenty of films and stories about that tradition. Fountains can also be perceived as an attempt another secret underworld, such as faerie wells and springs of Ireland, an attempt to conjure magic and the intangible, good fortune and love.
Around since ancient Sumerian and Assyrian times, fountains originally captured water from natural springs and rivers, relying on gravity to channel water into basins and small reservoirs for drinking and bathing. By the time Ancient Rome made its mark, with more complexity, it came via aqueducts and pipes to a ever more ornate structures, as much for display as much as refreshment. Becoming ever more ornate, they have become symbols also of the Arab civilisations, Rennaissance Europe, of the grandiosity of Versailles and beyond. By the 1700s water wheels and pumps were built in greater numbers and by the 19th century recycling water and then in the 20th century filters too became standard features for ornamental, drinking and other designs to celebrate the divine, the famous, the wealthy, myths, stories and other emblems of culture.
Here then is a sprinkle of visual stimulation to get your ideas flowing with a variety of fountains, ending in a video of musical fountains. These can be found all around the world. I discovered year a charming and ornate one at the eccentric Kawaguchiko Music Forest Museum near Mount Fuji in Japan, accompanied by a mechanic clock, but in theory nothing seems to be beat the scale and colourful complexity of China's musical fountain at Jiulong Lake, Nanchang City.
Fontaine des Fleuves, Place de La Concorde, Paris
The Palace of Versailles
Fontana della Barcaccia, Rome
The El Alamein Fountain, Sydney, the first ‘dandelion’ design
Chocolate fountain, Bellagio Patisserie, Las Vegas
King Fahd's Jeddah Fountain, Saudi Arabia, the tallest in the world, spurting up to 260 metres (853 ft)
So then, it’s time to let your ideas spring forth. Who will control the water supply to choose songs for playlists? The chief tap turner this week is the marvellous Marco den Ouden! Please direct your jet spray of inspiration into the comments boxes below, for taps turnoff deadline at 11pm UK time on Monday, and playlists published next week.
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